They were huge to me, I loved 'em, but I don't think they were as big to the music-buying public in general as they should have been.

This was also the nauseous hey-day of the likes of Bobby Sherman and the Partridge Family too, fabricated showbizzers who seemed to garner a ridiculous amount of attention, (~gag*). It didn't help that the Badfinger albums following Straight Up sort of floundered, even though I liked them anyway.

Wish You Were Here was a great return the good old consistent Badfinger, but their act just never rebounded.

They literally INVENTED the POWER POP category. Anyone who does any investigation into their tragic history will see they were in the crossfire at Apple, left to fend for themselves, unpromoted, ripped off, and given terrible advice.

The Beatles gave them their break, but the Beatles (or, Apple) basically KILLED them, too.

tal', the Beatles did end up neglecting them, but then they had their hands full with their own backyard of problems at the time. Lest we forget, the Beats also gave James Taylor his break but then neglected him as well.

JT booked for Warner Bros. (as did Badfinger) and has proven to be an enduring talent, and Badfinger certainly could have done likewise dontcha think? By some freaky quirk, 2 of those Badfinger dudes had struggles with mental/emotional stability--but then so had Taylor.

I mean look at Lennon, at that time "Beatleness" had so ravaged him (not to mention childhood issues) that he himself submitted to Janov's Primal Scream Therapy (not sure that PST was the proper treatment for him!). JAY-EMM-OH, but it seems to me that the real tragedy with Badfinger was, for whatever reasons, untreated mental illness.

I so hate the social stigma that hinders such people from getting help.

While I'm thinking about it, something I came across the other day as I perused my Beatle lit---Right when the Beatles got BIG in '64, John had an encounter with his father and gave him the brush off because his dad had abandoned him virtually his whole childhood. Well at some point in '65/66, the Beatles were invited to a costume party and John then invited his dad to come along. They both had a roaring good time getting drunk, and ended the party laughing and dancing with each other for a few numbers!!! Funny, true story!!

I really don't think that Badfinger were very big act, at least not in Canada anyway.
I mean I was just a small little rock and roller back then but my older brother of 12 years , who was very much into the British sound didn't play them around the house. In fact I hadn't heard Badfinger until I was in my 20's. Mike or 2 of 3 are a bit older than I. They may know just how much of an impact they had on Canada or all North America for that matter.

The really smart, good looking people in the world knew Badfinger were scary brilliant , but their timing in the world of music couldn't have been worse. It's too bad somebody like George Martin didn't pull Pete Ham aside and somehow get into his head that he could be one of the great songwriters in music.I can't think of another person with that much natural talent, who was so insecure he had no idea.